Rikkí Wright
⤏ IN CONVERSATION WITH HADAS
⤏ PHOTOS BY RIKKÍ WRIGHT
⤏ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 2018
Rikkí is an incredible photographer and consistently on a journey of self awareness and personal growth. As my only friend who is also awake at dawn, we thought it would be fitting if we gathered in the morning — I made a breakfast tart and she made coffee — to talk about the rituals in her life and how they have inspired her current solo show SIS.
HADAS: I’m really grateful that you invited me to your space, I wanted to do the interview here because I know that ritual is something that I have learned to be important to you in your daily life. What are some of the rituals you engage in and how is ritual important to your work?
RIKKÍ: I think that this past year I’ve been more intentional and more purposeful in the work that I do. I wake up every morning, make coffee, and I sit with myself. Think, talk, meditate. I’ve been reading a lot more lately, that’s been really big in my work. With the series I’m working on, I’ve been doing a lot of research. Trying to better understand why I feel a call to create this work. Ritual can be as simple as, “I want to wake up and read one chapter in a book every morning.” I think in the long term rituals help create better habits and help you be more consistent.
H: To me, ritual is also a series. A series of actions. And it seems like your work is part of a series. And even though there are particular projects, like SIS., there’s also a general series. An exploration of womanhood and femininity. I wanted to hear a bit about your rituals around that, and how this new series is an extension of your full body of work?
R: I unconsciously realized as I assessed my work and portfolio that I love shooting women. I enjoy capturing the female form and it became something that I sought when I would book shoots. Or when people book me that’s something that they would talk about in our consultation. They’d be like “Hey, I just really want a beautiful shoot and I know that’s what you do.” And I’m really grateful that that shows in my work. That’s what I’m trying to present, how beautiful women are.
With the whole sisterhood series, it started off as being called “My Sister’s Keeper.” I have always felt strongly about my sisters, and I definitely feel like although we don’t get along all the time, I would do anything to protect them. One of the themes in the show is loyalty. Whether it’s out of obligation or out of real love, my sisters are the most loyal people to me. And I’m one of the most loyal people that they have in their lives. I wanted to show how that seminal relationship really shapes a person and is foundational for a lot of the relationships you have in the future — with your friends, with your lovers — you consult your sisters about a lot of it. The first time you have sex, the first time you get your period...
“The concept of sisterhood as a community is so real.”
H: Something I wrote down in my notes as a reference to your artist statement is you really care about showcasing community. And something that I thought of is that sisterhood is your first community. So you have self, and you have the people right around you (your family), and then friends. And so really, the bond of sisterhood can be seen as one’s first community. I guess I’m kind of curious how you feel about that as a concept. That you’re kind of coming back to the genesis. Like you’ve been out there shooting these other women and now you’re back looking at this first community.
R: It’s crazy because when I sat down and looked at all these sisters, I saw representations of my actual sisters. The concept of sisterhood as a community is so real. I grew up without a mom, my mom passed away when I was two years old, but I had a sister. My sister is 11 months older than me, so we are very close in age, so we are going through basically the same life changes at the same time. At the same elementary school, middle school, high school. Having that person around you is a sense of security. I never felt alone. I felt like I always had an ally. That’s what I think community is.
H: Losing your mother seems to have been a defining moment for you, part of who you are, which I relate to. You’re out in the world taking these beautiful photos of women, and now bringing it back to this first community. I kind of wanted to explore that.
R: I’ve been reading a lot of Gordon Parks, the photographer. He inspired me to photograph random people more, because a lot of beautiful work is created that way. I was stopping people, women specifically, and women of color because I see part of myself in them. Or something in them I want to look deeper into. A lot of the expressions that you see in my work are very thoughtful or very sultry. I search a lot for femininity in the people i shoot, because growing up without a mom, I wasn’t really taught how to be a woman. So all these women and photos and poses have shown me what it is to be a woman. It’s not just me taking pictures. This is therapy.
H: Do you think about the viewer when you’re designing the photos? Do you think about what you want people to see?
R: Not really. When I’m shooting, I don’t even know what moments I’m capturing, but I know the feeling I’m capturing. I guess that’s what art is, an emotion.
H: How does the process of creating a series feel different from an isolated shoot?
R: This process definitely feels like I’m stepping into a new realm as an artist. I wanted to create a series that felt very intentional. I wanted to create more bodies of work to exhibit to make all of my randomness make sense.
H: Let’s get into the specifics of the actual show. The themes — identity, birth order, loyalty — how did you decide to visually represent them?
“I have best friends that are my sisters. . . They have helped me survive. And that’s all by choice. Not blood.”
R: Initially, I talked to a lot of women. I interviewed women about what sisterhood means to them. I thought also of what sisterhood means to me. A recurring concept was loyalty. Me and my sister have had to defend ourselves because we lost our mom. Sometimes we’d even have to defend ourselves within our own family. I hope the images show an intensity like, “I’ve got your back, sis.” That’s loyalty.
H: What does sisterhood mean to you?
R: A bond, an inseparable bond. It’s about community. It’s my tribe. Sisterhood was my first relationship, the one that I will learn the most lessons from and the one that I will have the most grief and pain from.
H: Is sisterhood something that is by blood or by choice?
R: I definitely think it’s by choice. I have “sisters” that I don’t even know. My dad had a lot of kids. We grew up in different cities, in different lifestyles. It’s weird to call those people my sisters, because we’ve never done anything for each other. But I have best friends that are my sisters. Like, my sis. They’ve been there for me. They’ve looked out for me. They have helped me survive. And that’s all by choice. Not blood.
H: I know both of us have lost our mothers, and that’s a really defining feature of the way I walk through life. Oftentimes, I think of it in terms of an absence. Like she is no longer there. Do you feel like the bond you had with your sisters compensated for that absence? It feels like this series takes an absence and creates something from it.
R: It has definitely been helping me fill a void. Helping to understand life and death in new ways. That’s really why I started photography to begin with. To help fill in these gaps in my life from growing up without a mom. The mom is usually the documentarian, the person who takes all the photos. I grew up with this whole missing part of my childhood, until I learned to take my own photos.
H: As you’re putting this show together and moving forward, where does this series take you? What are you hoping to accomplish and what comes after?
R: I really want to further conversations amongst sisters and women of color. I feel like we need to communicate more and talk more and understand ourselves more. That’s what I’m hoping this does. Helps us understand ourselves more.
H: How does this series fit into the bigger picture of what’s happening in the world right now?
R: Now more than ever my people need a sense of community. We need to be together. This series is right on time. I’ve been shooting it for four years now and has helped me feel closer to other women. These women are my friends. My tribe. I hope it creates more conversations, inspires more people to heal.
⤏ BUY THE PRINT EDITION OF JR HI THE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 001 HERE.
⤏ HADAS